MBARI news—2013

Dec 20, 2013 – MBARI engineers Brian Kieft and Thomas Hoover were two miles offshore on the R/V Paragon launching a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle when they received an emergency call from the Coast Guard Thursday afternoon. A kayaker had fallen out of his boat, and since his boat was flooded and awash, time was of the essence.

Dec 9, 2013 – Since World War II, US nautical charts have shown seven “chemical munitions dumping areas” along the Pacific Coast between San Francisco and the Mexican border. However, little or no information is available about the amount, location, or nature of the materials that were dumped at most of these sites.

Dec 9, 2013 – About 65 million years ago, an asteroid or comet crashed into a shallow sea near what is now the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. The resulting firestorm and global dust cloud caused the extinction of many land plants and large animals, including most of the dinosaurs.

Dec 6, 2013 – MBARI has collected seawater data using monitoring buoys, called moorings, in the outer waters of Monterey Bay for over 20 years. Two moorings, M1 and M2H, are currently in operation and equipped with many instruments that analyze over a dozen properties of its surroundings.

Nov 18, 2013 – Marine scientists want to know what the increasing levels of human-generated carbon dioxide in the ocean mean for the ocean’s ecosystems and inhabitants. Last week, Jim Barry’s research group collected 12 tanner crabs from the seafloor to get a better understanding of how ocean acidification affects the behavior of sea animals.

Nov 11, 2013 – Over one thousand miles wide and three thousand miles long, the Sargasso Sea occupies almost two thirds of the North Atlantic Ocean. Within the sea, circling ocean currents accumulate mats of Sargassum seaweed that shelter a surprising variety of fishes, snails, crabs, and other small animals.

MBARI was honored to host this year’s David Packard Distinguished Lecturer, James R. McFarlane, the founder and president of International Submarine Engineering, Ltd (ISE). McFarlane contributed to MBARI’s formative years as a critical advisor to David Packard and as a participant in several engineering reviews.

This month, the Monterey County Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities will honor MBARI for the institution’s work with people having disabilities. Our Director of Human Resources Norm Steinberg commented, “From the employer side, we are hiring individuals who want to do a good job, and can consistently be counted on. It’s always easier to work with people who enjoy being here. This positive energy has a contagious effect on others.”

Scientists are extremely interested in the Arctic seafloor because it has undergone very dramatic changes due to climate change. In collaboration with Canadian colleagues, MBARI researchers led by Charles Paull embarked on a Canadian icebreaker, the CCGS Sir Wilfred Laurier, to explore the unique undersea geology of the area.

MBARI’s underwater robot, Tethys, just came back from two continuous weeks at sea, where MBARI scientists used it to study harmful algal blooms as part of the Fall 2013 CANON experiment. When the researchers pulled the long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV) from the water, they discovered large scrapes on its sides.

The Sampling and Identifying Marine Zooplankton (SIMZ) project of Senior Scientist Robert Vrijenhoek’s laboratory aims to further understand the ecology and genetic diversity of marine zooplankton. MBARI team members and outside collaborators sampled from the R/V Rachel Carson to target subsurface chlorophyll layers in northern Monterey Bay.

MBARI Mechanical Engineering Technician Larry Bird has built a sampling system that is an essential component of an instrument called the Lagrangian Sediment Trap (LST) that collects particulate organic matter sinking in the ocean.

Aug 30, 2013 – Many deep-sea animals such as anglerfish use parts of their body as lures to attract prey. Some deep-sea squids may use this strategy as well. In a recent paper, researchers associated with MBARI describe a deep-sea squid that appears to use a different method to lure prey—its tentacle tips flap and flutter as if swimming on their own.

During the R/V Western Flyer’s ongoing expedition off the coast of Northern California, a brief visit was arranged with the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s (SOI) research vessel Falkor, which was passing through the same area.

Aug 1, 2013 – Washington state is one of the nation’s most prolific areas for shellfish harvesting and aquaculture. Yet, as in many other areas, Washington’s shellfish may cause seafood poisoning when certain types of harmful algae or bacteria become abundant in local waters.

Jul 16, 2013 – A unique field experiment being conducted off the coast of Portugal this week combines ocean robotics and marine biology in a complex aquatic dance. Researchers are using a fleet of robotic vehicles to track over a dozen Mola mola (ocean sunfish) as they forage across the coastal ocean.

Research programs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) encompass the entire ocean, from the surface waters to the deep seafloor, and from the coastal zone to the open sea. The need to understand the ocean in all its complexity and variability drives MBARI's research and development efforts.